Angelo Accardi - A Surreal Contemporary Vision
Written by Sarah Doar
Surreal art has a rich history. With pieces that are meant to excite, inspire, or even awaken unconscious thoughts, surreal art is an ever-evolving genre of contemporary art. Eden Gallery exclusive artist, Angelo Accardi, and his work are part of this movement. With a diverse body of work that includes both paintings and sculptures, Accardi is an art master whose collection features a unique crossover of surreal modern art with classical influences.
Born in the south of Italy, Angelo Accardi grew up surrounded by both modern and traditional art. Although he studied fine art at the Art Academy of Naples, he never completed his training. Preferring to learn by example and practice, Accardi opened his own studio. This is where he continues to work today, creating independently while drawing inspiration from a world of his imagination.
This world encourages the audience to make connections between the art and themselves. While Accardi shows familiar subjects in dreamlike scenarios, the audience is able to relate to them in their own way. In this sense, Accardi paintings are artistic conversations that expand across cultures and trends. They are intriguing, ironic, playful, and striking.
When beginning a painting, Accardi’s initial idea is rendered as pencil sketches or digital drawings. It is then transferred to canvas by hand or by the age-old technique of squaring: the process of transferring a work of art to scale by using a grid. Color is what gives shape to the sketch and at this point, it begins to change structurally and chromatically.
Renaissance artists portrayed their society using figures and symbols, through which the true meaning of the artwork could be understood. For this reason, these works of art remain a valuable part of art history. It is Angelo Accardi’s intention that his references to popular characters and artwork have this same effect on his contemporary audience.
In Angelo Accardi’s own words: “Man creates with so much passion, but with malice destroys. They are custodians in some cases and destructors in others.” While passion can be a destructive force, it is also responsible for joy. Accardi’s work reflects this.
Angelo Accardi’s most notable collections are Misplaced and Blended. In Misplaced, ostriches and rhinos appear as distressed creatures, as they inhabit a place where they seemingly do not belong. There is a latent fear looming over them. The ostrich standing before an art piece can even be perceived as a threat. As such, the reoccurring ostrich in Accardi’s work stands as a witness of discomfort: a disenchanting figure existing between a surreal and a tangible world.
The Blended collection is the collection to follow Misplaced. Tension is released by the artwork’s different elements. Cartoon characters, contemporary, and historical personalities heighten the mood as they engage with one another
While Accardi’s work stays true to surreal art with its ubiquitous themes of irony and chaos, Accardi also believes that the most straightforward and understandable style of art is pop art. For this reason, much of his work can be seen incorporating tributes to iconic pop artists such as Robert Indiana, Roy Lichtenstein, and Andy Warhol. Pop art is relatable because it is usually created from or inspired by everyday things. For instance, The Simpsons are a satire of the human condition, so to place them in a setting surrounded by the work of both surreal and neoclassical art creates a layering of genres.
Accardi’s art is most often set in urban landscapes and art galleries. Typically crowded places, in Accardi’s work they are often seen as sparsely populated. In Accardi’s words, this is done deliberately so that the added artistic references give the scene more energy and life. On the other hand, busier settings, in which there is already an atmosphere of excessive irony, give balance to the composition and aim to lower any level of superficiality.
Angelo Accardi’s surreal art represents a compromise between the art of the past and the art of the present. When asked what surreal art means to him, he admits that “it’s the dimension where I can be the irrational creator of my dreams and reveal some hidden shades of my psyche.” In an ever-changing world, Accardi’s work is representative of the times we live in, paying tribute to the meaning of art in life.
Angelo Accardi’s work is available to view and purchase exclusively at Eden Gallery.